I'd been based at Garstang Marina on the Lancaster Canal for four years and upgraded my first boat, a Viking 26ft narrowbeam, to the more comfortable widebeam version that has a permanent under-cockpit double bed - such a luxury! While it gave us much pleasure cruising at weekends and on holidays, I was intrigued to see a Princess 32 pass by. I fell in love with her lines and the way she moved in the water. However, thernLancaster has a height restriction of 7ft 9in and the Princess supposedly had an air draught of 8ft plus. Within a short time I heard it had hit a bridge and been taken away for repairs...rnSome weeks later, while on the internet, I spotted a Princess 32 that had broken its moorings and capsized on the River Avon. The river had been in heavy flood and Tewkesbury was cut off by flood water. The boat, Tilapia, had been salvaged and transported down to Southend-on-Sea in Essex. After numerous telephone calls I decided to see the boat for myself and assess the damage.
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